June 17 Dunhuang

9 am start. Civilized! Thanks to Joyce for saving these days! There is no coffee to be found! But I did bring some instant! Not the best but so much better than nothing.
A 1 hour drive to the Yu Men Pass. This is really a fort/castle/gate built 2000 years ago. Like so much in area it is made of mud, twigs and straw. Amazing how it has held up this long! There is also a beacon tower near by.

A short drive to a section of Han Dynasty Great wall! Again 2000 years old. This part has not be restored. It goes on for miles. The terrain is so flat and barren.

1 1/2 hour drive to Yardan GeoPark. This is called the ghost city. Huge sandstone outcroppings that have be shaped by the sand and wind. Several have been named. Alien, Sphinx, fleet of ships, peacock.
It is an amazing sight and site. The formations are great but the facilities are amazing as well. Definitely very new and geared to 1000s of visitors. You can only travel through the formations in large transit buses which looked new! Very nice.

June 16 Dunhuang

Awake about 6. Still pretty quiet on train. Very nice sun rise, brilliant red. The landscape is very moon like, except for the hundreds of wind turbines.
Got coffee with tea thermos like thing I found at train station.... feeling almost human! Trains have a boiling water tank in every car. And well used as everyone drinks tea and eats packaged noodles from the cup.
Train arrived at Dunhuang at about 9.30. I did get a far amount of sleep, and even though on the train for 23 hours, the time passed fairly fast.
Showered and off to National Museum. Some good displays.
Then off to the Sand Dunes.

They are just on the edge of the city at the end of this very wide and straight road. The dunes are huge! About 200 square km and 200 meters high. This is the southern end of the Gobi desert. It is very dry, but as we arrive, there was a bit of a sand storm and a few spits of rain!
Took a camel ride for about 1 hour up one dune. I am not sure why, but I did it anyway. They are not the most comfortable things to ride. At least these did not try to spit or bite you.

Then for a walk around the Crescent shaped Moon lake (????). It is a natural spring lake that has not dried up in hundreds of year. Fed by an underground spring. It is amazing to see. Also a nice pagoda on the edge.
Then a hike up the dune! Took only about 30 minutes, but a tough walk through the loose sand. Couple of us did it bare feet. Fortunately it was a cloudy day and the sand did not get too hot! Went up to see sunset but had to leave before hand and it was too cloudy anyway!